USA > Illinois > St Clair County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of St. Clair County, Volume II > Part 28
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ILLINOIS & ST. LOUIS COAL COMPANY'S RAIL- ROAD .- In 1870 this line had been extended from the coal bluffs to Belleville, a distance of six miles.
OHIO & MISSISSIPPI RAILROAD .- This road crosses the northern part of the county, pass- ing through East St. Louis, Caseyville, Forman, O'Fallon, Lebanon and Summerfield. In 1848, the Legislature of Indiana passed an act incor- porating the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad Com- pany, empowering it to locate, construct, and maintain a road leading from Lawrenceburg 011 the Ohio, to Vincennes on the Wabash, and contemplating an eastern extension to Cincin- nati, Ohio, and a western extension to East St. Louis, as soon as the States of Ohio and Illi- nois would grant the right of way. In 1849, the Ohio Legislature, and, in 1851, the Illinois Legislature, by official acts, extended the road, as desired, and in 1857, the entire length of road was opened for business. The panic of 1857, however, injured the road; and, in 1858, creditors brought suit for foreclosure of mort- gages and sale of property. A receiver was appointed, under whose direction the road was maintained until it was reorganized. A new company came into existence, which held con- trol until 1874, when it became embarrassed, and the road went into the hands of a receiver, John King, Jr., Vice-President of the Baltimore & Ohio. The road was then put in excellent working order, the credit of the company was maintained, the floating debt was materially reduced. Within the last ten years, this road has become the property of the Baltimore & Ohio, with St. Louis as its western terminus, and having connections with the Atlantic seaboard.
TERRE HAUTE, ALTON & ST. LOUIS RAILROAD .- The Terre Haute & Alton Railroad Company was chartered January, 1851. The main line, from Terre Haute to Alton, was completed March 1, 1856. The Belleville & Illinoistown branch, from Belleville to East St. Louis, was completed between those towns in the fall of
1854 under a charter granted two years earlier. The line from East St. Louis to Alton was put in operation in October, 1856, affording the first railway communication between these two points. The Terre Haute & Alton Railroad and the Belleville & Illinoistown Railroad were con- solidated under a single charter of 1854, and re- mained the Terre Haute, Alton & St. Louis Railroad. The road was sold under foreclosure and reorganized in 1862 as the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad. In 1867 the line from Terre Haute to St. Louis was leased to the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railway Company, which passed into the hands of a receiver in 1882. Most of the road was subsequently ab- sorbed and has since been operated by the "Big Four" interests. In 1896 the Belleville branch was leased to the Illinois Central Railroad Company.
CAIRO SHORT LINE .- This road, originally called the Belleville & Southern Illinois Rail- road, crosses St. Clair County diagonally from East St. Louis, a distance of about forty miles, touching Centerville Station, Belleville, Free- burg, Lementon, New Athens, Lenzburg, and Marissa. In transportation it has always done a thriving business, carrying principally coal, flour and building stone. It was chartered in 1857 and completed in December, 1873. It con- nects with the Illinois Central line at Duquoin, forming a short line between St. Louis and Cairo. In 1866 it was leased to the Alton & Terre Haute Railroad Company for a term of 999 years, at $88,000 a year. About ten years ago the Cairo Short Line was merged with the great Illinois Central System.
CHICAGO, ALTON & ST. LOUIS RAILROAD .- This road, now the Chicago & Alton, extends through some of the best territory of Illinois and Mis- souri. It reaches as far west as Kansas City, as far north as Chicago and as far south as St. Louis. This line was opened from Alton to Springfield in 1853, from Springfield to Bloomington in 1854, and to Joliet in 1856. In 1855 a line was constructed from Chicago to Joliet and leased in perpetuity to the Alton in- terest, which was reorganized as the St. Louis, Alton & Chicago Railroad Company in 1857. For some time connection was had between Al-
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
ton and St. Louis by steam packet boats, run- ning in connection with the railroads, and later, over the line of the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad-the first railway connecting the two cities. At this juncture John J. Mitchell of- fered to build an independent road from Alton to East St. Louis, provided the Chicago & Alton Company would merge the franchises of the Al- ton & St. Louis charter of 1850 (then owned and controlled by Mitchell) with its own. That proposition was accepted and the line was con- structed in 1864 and formally opened into East St. Louis, January 1, 1865. The line terminated on valuable depot ground obtained by Mr. Mitch- ell for the Chicago & Alton interests from the Wiggins Ferry Company. From the beginning the Alton management has paid especial at- tention to fostering and developing local busi- ness along its line.
ST. LOUIS, VANDALIA & TERRE HAUTE RAIL- ROAD .- This line runs ten miles in St. Clair County. It was chartered in 1865. In July, 1868, the first trains were run between East St. Louis and Highland; and in July of the fol- lowing year the road was completed from East St. Louis to Effingham, ninety-eight miles, and a through train service established between East St. Louis and Chicago in connection with the Illinois Central Railroad. In July, 1870, the last rails were laid between Effingham and the Indiana State line. In that year the road was leased to the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad, for the latter, and the Pittsburg, Cin- cinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad. Very soon after, a through line of sleeping cars was established between New York and St. Louis; and the Vandalia line became a prominent route from St. Louis to the seaboard. The Van- dalia is now operated as one of the Pennsyl- vania Lines.
DECATUR & EAST ST. LOUIS RAILROAD .- In 1868 the Toledo, Wabash & Western Railroad Com- pany secured the construction of a line from Decatur to East St. Louis under the name above given. It was opened for traffic July, 1870. In November, 1879, the Wabash, St. Louis & Pa- cific Railway Company succeeded to the man- agement. A line had been projected from De- catur to Chicago as early as 1870, but not hav- ing been constructed in 1881, this company pur-
chased what was known as the Chicago & Pa- ducah Railroad, uniting with the main line at Bement, and, by way of the Decatur & St. Louis division, giving a direct line between Chicago and St. Louis. The Wabash, as this system is now known, has been operated under different names from time to time. It sprang from the first line of road projected in Illinois, then known as Northern
the Cross Railroad, extending from Danville to Quincy. This was chartered in 1837, and in the winter of 1838-39, the first locomotive was run, from Meredosia, on the Illinois River, to Jacksonville. In 1842, the road was completed from Jacksonville to Springfield, and three trips a week were made. The track was the old flat-rail style, which was made by nailing thin strips of iron on two parallel lines of timbers placed at the proper distances apart and running lengthwise of the road. The engine, as well as the road, became so impaired that it had to be abandoned and mules used as motive power. Soon after, the State sold the entire road for a nominal sum, and this railroad enterprise was abandoned. Within the next thirty years, Illinois experi- enced a wonderful development in railroads. The Great Western (later called the Toledo, Wabash & Western; then the Wabash; then the Wabash & Western, and finally again the Wabash) was an extension of the Northern Cross Railroad, and traverses some of the finest regions in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. By con- solidation, and connection with other roads, the Wabash has become a power in the country and connects with the largest cities in the United States. The road has, besides its pas- senger traffic, an immense freight traffic. Until June 13, 1875, the terminus of this part of the road was in East St. Louis.
ROCKFORD, ROCK ISLAND & ST. LOUIS RAIL- ROAD .- The company controlling this line ran its trains into East St. Louis from Alton Junc- tion on the track of the Vandalia Line.
A concern, called the American Bottom Lime, Marble & Coat Company, was then op- erating the St. Louis & East Carondelet Rail- way, with a branch to Falling Springs.
CAIRO & ST. LOUIS RAILROAD .- A charter for this road was granted February 16, 1865.
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
Trains began running to Murphysboro, Ill., Sep- tember 15, 1873, there tapping the Big Muddy coal fields, which produce excellent coal for smelting purposes. The railroad company soon contracted to supply coal for three years to South St. Louis furnaces. Hon. C. H. Howland contracted to build the road from Cairo to East St. Louis and sold the contract to Payson & Co., of Chicago, who completed the work in April, 1875. Eventually the road was sold under foreclosure in 1881, passing to the man- agement of the St. Louis & Cairo Railroad Company. Since 1886 it has constituted the Illinois division of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad Company's line, affording that road a St. Louis connection.
ST. LOUIS & SOUTHEASTERN RAILROAD .- This line has come to be called the St. Louis, Evans- ville & Nashville. It crosses the county from East St. Louis in a southeasterly direction, going through French Village, Brickner, Belle- ville, Rentchler Station, Mascoutah, and Pen- soneau. Its length in St. Clair County is about thirty-five and four-fifths miles. The road was incorporated in 1869; and, in 1870, trains ran from East St. Louis to Mt. Vernon. This road transports a great deal of coal, grain, flour, and other commodities, and has done much to build up the towns along the line. The St. Louis & Nashville Railroad extends from East St. Louis southeasterly, through Southern Illi- nois, then on to the South and East.
BELLEVILLE & O'FALLON RAILROAD .- This rail- road, eight miles long, was built by General E. F. Winslow in 1870-71. The city of Belleville paid $50,000 in bonds to the road, and O'Fallon $15,000. It was at first intended to extend the road to Troy, Madison County, to join the Vandalia Line, but the project was abandoned, and only eight miles of track were laid. Only one train each way is run daily.
One after another, or contemporaneously, railroads were pushed into East St. Louis, where they were compelled to build their ter- minals and establish their western bases. The Wiggins Ferry Company and the Transfer Company originated and gained power because
of this fact and grew stronger from decade to decade. Logically the Eads Bridge came into existence in 1874, and the Merchants' Bridge in 1890. Logically, other bridges will be con- structed here in the years to come, for the old is ever giving place to the new, and we have entered an era of bewilderingly swift his- tory-making.
"Conspicuous among East St. Louis enter- prises," noted Tyson, about thirty years ago, "is the East St. Louis & Carondelet Railroad. Its termini are as its name indicates. Its Superintendent, Mr. J. W. Jones, is also Su- perintendent of the Union Railway & Transit Company. The Kirkwood branch of the At- lantic & Pacific Road, which runs through the farm occupied in ante-war days by General Grant, brings stock from the West and South- west to its terminus opposite East Carondelet, whence it is transferred by the car ferry of the transit company across the river to its rail- way, and promptly run up to the Stock Yards and there housed, fed and watered. This com- pany also owns the grounds and tracks at the Relay Depot. Hence, the Union Railway & Transit Company, owning the East St. Louis & Carondelet Railway, and being purely an East St. Louis enterprise, constructed, owned, offi- ' cered and manned here, is the only means of intercourse by rail between East Carondelet and the National Stock Yards, as well as be- tween the East and the West at this point."
"There is no city of its size in the United States that has the railroad facilities of East St. Louis," wrote the author of a history of St. Clair County published a quarter of a century ago. "No less than eleven roads, by the con- ditions of their charters, terminate here, which are as follows: The Chicago & Alton; the In- dianapolis & St. Louis; the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific; the Rockford, Rock Island & St. Louis (C., B. & Q.); the St. Louis, Vandalia & Terre Haute (Vandalia Line) ; the Ohio & Mis- sissippi; the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute (Cairo Short Line) ; the Louisville & Nash- ville (St. Louis Southeastern) ; the Cairo & St. Louis; the East St. Louis & Carondelet; and the Illinois & St. Louis. The Union Railway & Transit Company, organized in East St. Louis in 1874, and a similar concern organized in St. Louis under the Missouri laws, united and acted as agent for the Illinois & St. Louis Bridge Company in transferring cars and merchandise
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
from city to city. Except the Cairo & St. Louis Railway, all of the above-mentioned roads cen- ter at the Relay Depot."
With wonderful rapidity, East St. Louis be- came a railroad center only of less importance than St. Louis and Chicago. It is on the main lines of numerous great railway systems and is the terminus of several feeders. Important lines centering here are the Mobile & Ohio; the Southern; the Peoria Short Line; the Hender- son Line; the Louisville & Nashville; the Van- dalia Line; the Baltimore & Ohio Southwest- ern; the Wabash; the East St. Louis & Ca- rondelet Railway; the Chicago & Alton, the Burlington Route; the Great Northern; the Bluff Line; the Troy & Eastern; the Big Four Route; the St. Louis Valley Line; the Alton, Granite City & St. Louis; the Illinois Terminal Railway; the Cotton Belt Route; the Iron Mountain Route; the Conlogue Road. The new Relay Depot was opened April 16, 1901.
The Illinois portion of the Clover Leaf Route (Toledo, St. Louis & Western Railroad) origi- nated in a union of charters granted to the Tus- cola, Charleston & Vincennes and the Charles- ton, Neoga & St. Louis Railroad Companies, which were consolidated in 1881 with certain Indiana lines under the title of the Toledo, Cin- cinnati & St. Louis Railroad. In 1882 a road was built from Ridgefarm, Vermilion County, to East St. Louis. It.was sold under foreclos- ure in 1885 and in 1886 was consolidated with the main line under the name of the Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City Railroad. The whole system went into the hands of receivers in 1893 and has been reorganized as tne Toledo, St. Louis & Western Railroad, with T. P. Shonts (now at the head of the Panama Canal con- struction department) as President and Gen- eral Manager. Through its connections, the Illi- nois Central Railroad is properly a part of the railroad system of St. Clair County. In Sep- tember, 1850, Congress passed an act granting an aggregate of 2,595,053 acres to help in build- ing the road. The act granted the right of way, and gave alternate sections of land for six miles on either side of the road. The grant of land was made directly to the State. On February 10, 1851, the Legislature of Illinois granted a charter to an Eastern company to build it, with a capital stock of $1,000,000. The Legislature, in granting the charter and trans- ferring to the corporation the lands, stipulated
that seven per cent. of the gross earnings of the road should be paid semi-annually into the treasury of the State forever. This provision, in return for the liberal land grant, yields a large annual revenue to the State. By an extensive system of railroad construction, and by its leased lines the Illinois Central Railroad has termini in many important centers of trade in the Missouri and Mississippi Valleys, on the great chain of lakes at Chicago, and in the South.
Ninety per cent. of freight for both St. Louis and East St. Louis is stopped at East St. Louis. Two great belt lines encircle the eastern sec- tion of the city, and on the levee another joins all roads that center there. The Eads Bridge, connecting St. Louis and East St. Louis, the Merchants' Bridge (the Illinois end of which is in Madison County, a few miles from East St. Louis), and the Thebes Bridge, at Thebes, Ill., 129 miles south of St. Louis, are important factors in the great railway system radiating from East St. Louis and St. Louis and in the commerce of the country at large. In this rec- ord of St. Clair County enterprise, we have to do only with the former. The economic im- portance of this structure has been sufficiently indicated. The boldness of its engineering and the magnificence of its proportions have given it world-wide celebrity. It remains to con- sider it as an architectural wonder. As such it is equally remarkable, whether considered in connection with its piers or its superstructure.
ILLINOIS AND ST. LOUIS BRIDGE .- The shifting character of the bed of the Mississippi River and the great depth of the scour made the establishment of permanent foundations in it very difficult. The rock underlying the river here dips to the eastward, the depth of the St. Louis abutment being only thirteen feet be- low extreme low water, while at the East St. Louis abutment it is ninety-four feet below low- water mark and 136 feet below high-water mark. There are two piers in the body of the stream, which are essentially alike except that the easterly one is deeper than the other. The East St. Louis abutment is especially noted as being the deepest foundation that had ever been constructed by the pneumatic process. Where it touches the rocky bottom it is 110 feet below the upper surface of the water in the
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
river. Every precaution was taken to secure the safety of the workmen. Telegraphic com- munication was established between the top of the masonry in the pier and the large com- partment in its base. Previous experience had raised a doubt whether men could endure a pressure of over three and one-half atmospheres above that of the ordinary atmospheric pres- sure; but it was found that, by making fre- quent changes, the workmen suffered little in- convenience. They were usually kept in the compressed air about an hour at a time. Some who remained in several hours under much less pressure were paralyzed, and a few died from the effects of their confinement.
The bridge has three spans, each formed with four ribbed arches made of cast steel. The center span is 515 feet and the side spans 497 feet, each, in the clear. The rise of the central one is one-tenth of the span, that of the side ones forty-seven feet ten inches. The superstructure was made of chrome steel, which had been tested to the utmost before using. In placing the spans in position, Mr. Flad, chief assistant of Captain Eads, introduced a system of hog-chains reaching over immense wooden structures on the top of the piers. These were let down and made fast to the growing spans, and as each part grew from the pier towards the center in open space, chains were applied from time to time to sup- port the great weight of the growing arch. By the method of working with hog-chains, Mr. Flad was enabled to dispense with the old cum- bersome way of scaffolding below to support the span as it was being built out from the pier. Each of the four arches forming each of the three spans consists of an upper and a lower curved member or rib, extending from pier to pier. Each of these members consists of two parallel steel tubes, nine inches in ex- terior diameter, placed side by side. The up- per and lower members are twelve feet apart, measured from the center of the upper to the center of the lower tubes. At regular intervals or about nine feet, these members are braced from each other by a vertical system of cast steel bracing on each side of them. These braces are secured at each end to cast steel plates and all of them are steadied by an ad- mirable system of braces. The two center arches of each span are thirteen feet nine and a half inches apart from center to center. The outside arches are each fifteen feet one and
three-fourths inch from the middle ones, and are joined to the latter by three systems of bra- cing. The outside arches are supported against lateral movement by rigid connections from the upper and lower roadways.
The roadways are formed by transverse iron beams, twelve inches in depth, supported by iron struts of cruciform section resting on the arches at the points where the vertical bracing of the latter is secured. That portion of the railways which passes below the crown of the arches is suspended from them. The upper roadway is thirty-four feet wide between the footwalks. The latter are each eight feet wide, making the bridge fifty feet wide between the railings. The railway passages below the car- riageway are each thirteen feet six inches wide in the clear and eighteen feet high, and extend through arched openings of equal size in the abutments and piers.
In the construction of the masonry there were used 12,000 cubic yards of gray granite from Portland, Me .; 12,000 cubic yards of sand- stone from the quarries at St. Genevieve, Mo., in the approaches; and 2,000 cubic yards of granite from the quarries at Pilot Knob, Mo., in the base course of the approaches. The su- perstructure contains 2,200 tons of steel and 3,400 tons of iron. The total length of the bridge is 6,220 feet-considerably more than a mile. The bridge is connected with the yard of Union Station, St. Louis, by a tunnel 4,860 feet long, double-tracked throughout, and, from the yards, trackage leads to further facilities.
The history of this great work may be briefly stated. An act incorporating the St. Louis & Illinois Bridge Company was passed and ap- proved by the Missouri Legislature February 5, 1864. An amended act was passed and ap- proved February 20, 1865. About the same time, the Legislature of Illinois passed an act authorizing the incorporators under the Mis- souri act, under certain stipulations, to build a bridge to the Illinois shore near the dike. An act of Congress was passed and approved July 25, 1866, authorizing the construction of certain bridges, one of which was to span the Mississippi at St. Louis. Having thus secured the necessary legislation, the projectors direct- ed special attention to the work itself. Pre- liminary steps were taken, soundings were made, plans were proposed and estimates were considered. The company was organized May 1, 1867, and contracts for masonry were let
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
soon afterward. The first stone was laid on the western abutment pier January 25, 1868, and in the spring of that year the pier had risen above the water level. Captain James B. Eads was chief engineer of the work. When, in June, 1874, the bridge and tunnel were thrown open to the public, they had cost be- tween $12,000,000 and $13,000,000. July 4, 1874, the bridge was dedicated with parade and ceremony.
The tornado of 1871 destroyed the apparatus that had been employed in the construction of the unfinished east pier, killing one of the workmen and injuring eight or ten others.
STREET AND ELECTRIC RAILWAYS .- The Street Railway system of East St. Louis and St. Clair County is, all things considered, as good as any in the country. The following dates in- dicate landmarks in the development of this great enterprise. In 1872 an ordinance was passed by the East St. Louis Council permit- ting the construction of a street railway, single or double-track, from Bowman's dike near the levee, to Missouri and Collinsville Avenues. The terminus of the line as finally constructed was on St. Clair Avenue, at the approach to the National Stock Yards. The company that built and operated it had Harry Elliott as Pres- ident and Thomas Winstanley as Manager. Its cost was about $20,000. Cars began running July 18, 1872. August 9, 1889, an ordinance was passed granting the use of East St. Louis streets to the Citizens' Electric Light and Power Company. March 3, 1890, the East St. Louis Electric Street Railroad Company peti- tioned for a franchise. On May 17 of that year the construction of the line was ordered. October, 1897, work was begun on the electric lines to Belleville. May 27, 1898, the first reg- ular trains were run on the East St. Louis & Suburban Railroad. The next day the line between East St. Louis and Belleville was for- mally opened. The Day line, a close rival of the Suburban, was opened May 11, 1899. On the 12th of April, 1902, Clark Bros., then own- ers of these two roads, bought the Eads Bridge line. The first through car passed from the National Stock Yards over the bridge to St. Louis, November 10, 1902. A trial trip was made November 12 and cars began to run regu- larly November 15. December 21, 1902, an or-
dinance was passed permitting East St. Louis to connect with the bridge tracks. Only a lit- tle longer than a decade ago cars were first run over the permanent system, and within a year from the beginning of its operation the system was profitable.
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